Night
by Y0URIMAGINARYFRIEND
Summary: One night, Papa doesn't come home on time. Set in the Crossed Wires universe. Oneshot, set about 7 years on. Kind of angsty. Minor KakaSasu


This is a fic set somewhere in the Crossed Wires universe (though it may well become un-cannon to it later), where the baby - no, I'm not giving away the gender yet - is about seven. It's a bit experimental, as you'll see, and a very different mood to Crossed Wires itself. So yeah, feedback would be really appreciated.

This is a Crossed Wires oneshot written for the 100 Themes Challenge over on deviantART. Enjoy!

32) Night

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One night, Papa doesn't come home on time. Daddy says it's normal for long missions to run over, but still. It's cold at this time of year, and he's been on missions nearly all the time recently. I want him to come home and be with us.

Dad says we may as well have ice-cream, since Papa doesn't like it. He doesn't like sweet things at all, though he says I'm sweet sometimes, and he loves me. It makes me feel better, but I'm still sort of worried. I know Papa is a strong ninja, both my parents are, but they've both had injuries before, and sometimes it's so bad one of them ends up in hospital. Neither of them likes hospitals, they say the smell is nasty.

I like the smell of blood sometimes, but not on Papa. I can almost smell it now, and it doesn't match with him, and it makes me feel all twisty in my belly.

Daddy pulls me on his lap and feeds me ice-cream that's melted because I left it too long when I was thinking. He sings a silly song, because he's a bit of a silly dad. He forgets everything, and then he tries to pretend he has a good reason, but Papa just shrugs and ignores it. I think most people would think that's odd, but they've always done it, it's sort of a friendly thing.

I ask Dad if he can smell the blood on the air, but he can't. He says I'm just imagining things, but I can hear his heartbeat speed up because my head is against his shoulder.

He starts to tidy up, and says I can either stay and help, or go to bed. I choose to go to bed, because I'd rather be asleep than awake and worrying about Papa. I don't usually get nightmares, but I ask him to tell me a story just to be sure. He's normally too lazy to, but tonight he doesn't argue.

#

There's a noise, and I wake up straight away. I've always been a light sleeper, which Papa says is good for a ninja, because that way nobody can sneak up on me when I'm asleep. I open my eyes when I hear the front door opening, and Dad heads outside. Papa must be home now.

I slip on my dressing gown as I run out, knowing I'll probably be told off for waking up but not really caring. I hear Dad shout something, but I can't make it out, and then I'm in the garden.

Papa is back. But something's wrong. He's standing all funny, and he has one hand pressed to his eye. Dad is just standing there in front of him, looking like all the blood as gone from him, and his hands are trembling. That's not right. Papa doesn't get wounded often, but when he does Dad always stays calm about it, he never even looks worried.

I walk up and hold his hand, and he jumps slightly. He looks down at me, and I try to smile at him, but his eyes look like they're seeing something else, something far away and sad. I squeeze his hand to make him feel better, but then he notices me and tells me to go back to bed, because he needs to take Papa to the hospital.

I look across at Papa, and he nods, and blood runs down his arm, looking black because it's so dark. I run over to hug him goodbye, not really caring about the blood on him, though it still smells scary. He'll be okay, Papa's always okay.

That's when his hand moves from his face, and I see what's happened to him. His eye is bleeding, almost not there at all, and there's gunk dripping down his face. It looks a lot more scary than any of his other injuries, but I don't cry because I don't want to upset him, even though my eyes and throat feel all hot.

I hug him anyway. I kiss his tummy (I don't want to make him bend down to kiss me in case that hurts him more), and I say night night. I don't care if he looks scary, he's my Papa and I love him.

Then Dad takes Papa in his arms, and the disappear into the night. The garden feels cold, so I go inside to bed before I start crying. Papa says you should always stay dry in the cold, so you don't get ill.

#

The next day, Dad is back, and he takes me to the hospital to visit Papa. He still looks scared, so I keep close by him. I know he doesn't like hospitals, even when he's only visiting.

We have to wait a bit, and then we get to visit Papa. He's sitting up in bed, reading, and he looks fine except for the bandages over half his face. He smiles and cuddles me, and says sorry for scaring me, while Daddy stands at the end of the bed and looks like he's seeing something else entirely.

After a bit, I ask Papa to take the bandages off, to see how fast he's healing. He says he doesn't want to worry me, but I keep asking until he gives in and calls a nurse.

His face looks very different now to usual. He's got a hole where his eye used to be, still all red but not bleeding now, and there's a scar going across from his eye towards his ear. It looks horrible (though not as scarily horrible as last night), and I tell him so, and he sort of laughs. When I ask why, he says he wanted to look horrible all his life until Daddy came along, to keep away all the girls.

Daddy doesn't laugh, but he walks over and kisses Papa, and I cover my eyes because it's disgusting, but I don't say anything because Dad's hands aren't trembling any more.

They whisper to each other as they kiss, but I can't understand it. I understand when they both cuddle me though, I can feel that they were worried about me. I'm not going to be scared of a little thing like this though, I'm going to be a ninja, so I have to get used to it. And anyway, it means Papa will be at home more while he heals.

It's easier to tell them so in the daytime though.

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Cute? Sad? Overly subtle? Please let me know what you think- I've never written first person before, and for some reason I also decided to write this without any dialogue. I'm not sure it worked, and I'd love some con-crit.


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